Whether or not you know the difference between a cornerback and a halfback, have a specific team you follow, or are even a sports fan at all, you’ve (Americans) probably have watched a Super Bowl, a Super Bowl halftime show, or the commercials that are made specifically to fill the three and half hours of televised coverage that is interrupted occasionally by fragments of 60 minutes of “actual game time”—which is often denoted by each team figuring out who has to pick up the pizza tab after the game while the clock ticks down, and the referees practice their miming.

Anyway, I (Jordan) am a Colts fan (and Alex is a Bears’ fan–even worse!)—which is to say I am an “anybody but Patriots” fan—and currently living out seasons of disappointment with an ineffectual front office.

This is a show primarily about cocktails, so I’ll get to my recipes shortly, but before I do, I have to say that I think of the parties and social norms of Super Bowl celebrations requires any good host of these events to provide his or her guests with plenty of BEER.

If you like horses, choose Budweiser.

If you like trains, choose Coor’s Light.

If you like pretending none of it matter, choose PBR.

But it’s a good idea as a discerning host to have a few beers with flavor, so that is where I’ll start my recommendations.

A few Super Bowl beers to choose from:

For a Falcons fan: anything from Orpheus—but Lyric Ale if you plan to play by the book, and the Atalanta (a tart plum saison) if you want to see more trick plays. Or, as Alex would suggest, shotgun a “Natty Ice” every time Matt “Matty Ice” Ryan throws a TD.

Combine the above ingredients and let sit in the fridge for an hour. When serving, place a small lime wedge for garnish on each glass. Drop in a few dashes of grapefruit or other citrus bitters in to each glass. Bonus points if you include a salt rim and a grapefruit wedge.

Classic Beer Cocktail: The Michelada

Salt and Cayenne Pepper blend for glass rim

½ oz. fresh lime juice

2 drops of Tabasco sauce

2 dashes of Worcester Sauce

Ground black pepper to taste

Pinch of celery salt

12 oz. can of Tecate or other Mexican lager

For Falcons fans:

Alex’s Recipe: “The Dirty Bird”

(This is totally a reference to Jamal Anderson)

1 ounce tequila (Go with blanco here–El Jimador works great)

1 ounce coffee liqueur (Or make your own coffee-infused Rum liqueur)

Cream or milk

Stir but then shake briefly at the end

Add in as many red maraschino cherries as Matty Ice throws touchdowns

Jordan’s Recipe: “Georgia on My Mind”

Serves 8

1/3 cup lightly packed mint leaves

12 oz. bonded bourbon

4 oz. Crème de peche (peach liquor)

4 oz. fresh lemon juice

2 oz. maple syrup

24 oz. chilled apricot or peach ale

Combine all ingredients except for the ale in a large container, let chill in the fridge for at least an hour. Before serving add ale, stir, and pour into ice-filled highball glasses.

Jordan’s first liquor of choice was gin, but mostly because a gin and tonic is such an easy drink–both to make and to drink. Although he still regularly enjoys a dry Martini or Negroni, he is now firmly in the brown water camp.
A great deal of his “drinking knowledge” he learns by osmosis from family and friends with actual professional bona fides.